Technology relating to the use of animal and vegetable oils for burner combustion is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 2003-294221 and 2004-198050. Bio-diesel fuel has been gaining increasing attention in recent years as a fuel for use in diesel engines. That bio-diesel fuel has been reformed from animal and vegetable oils utilizing the methyl-ester process. The methyl-ester process lowers the flash point of animal and vegetable oils and their viscosity to improve their compatibility with fuel injection, thus allowing these oils to be used as fuel for conventional diesel engines.
The following factors should be considered when reforming animal and vegetable oils with, the methyl-ester process:                1. Animal and vegetable oils can be reformed into fuel through a chemical reaction with methanol. As this involves the expense of the equipment needed for the reforming process and the expense of the reforming process itself, the resultant, fuel costs are greater than that required to produce light fuel oil,        2. Additional work and expense are required to remove glycerin which. Is a byproduct generated in the process. Also, the yield of the bio-diesel fuel from animal and vegetable oils is relatively low due to the generation of this byproduct.        3. The glycerin removal process lowers the thermal output of the resulting bio-diesel fuel, thus limiting the power which can be obtained from the fuel.        4. The use of 100% bio-diesel fuel in a diesel engine may result in mechanical seizing and damage due to the lack of a lubricating component unless the fuel is mixed with a petroleum-based fuel such as light oil.        